The sheer arrogance of those words made her jaw drop, and when he started laughing, she realized, with a furious blush, that he was trying to provoke her on purpose.
“Asshole.”
His smile became less teasing, more rapacious. “You owe me a slutty punishment dress for making me come down here to get you, by the way.”
“I don’t remember agreeing to that.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m putting you in something short and low-cut.” He kissed her, his hand coming up to cushion the back of her skull as he jostled her up against the wall. “I want to see leg.”
“I want to see leg,” Jay repeated. “Are you serious?”
“Daddy loves it when his cold little bird looks a little slutty.” He thrust his tongue into her mouth, squeezing the back of her neck. “It gets me hot.”
“What doesn’t?” Jay muttered, turning her face away. “You just enjoy tormenting me.”
“Just like how you enjoy begging me to do it.” Unbothered, he tugged at her shirt, making her scramble to hold it down over the front of her thighs. “Come shower with me.”
God, Jay thought dazedly.Who is this man?“It’s an old shower. You might be too tall for it.”
Nicholas flicked her tongue against her ear. “Then I’ll kneel.”
Jay nearly fell over when he released her.
Fuck, she thought.
???????
Nicholas had told himself that it was just sex that he wanted, but it was the moments before and after that he really craved: watching her comb out the tangles that he’d put in her hair by pulling on it, the feel of her fingers against his chest when she unbuttoned his shirt.
These little moments of forced tenderness were the closest he’d ever been to love.
One night when both their parents were out, he let himself into her room. She had been relaxing in bed with a book, though she shot bolt upright when she saw him. The way she covered herself, using the book as a shield, was like an arrow in his chest. The pain made him feel helpless, which made him angry.
“What do you want?” she asked, in an icy tone that didn’t quite hide the fact that her bare shoulders were shaking.
“Come shower with me. You don’t even have to fuck me,” he added, hating how much it sounded like pleading but too desperate to care. “Just wash my back while I get off.”
He could still remember the look of disgust on her face. He’d told himself it didn’t matter how she looked at him when her clothes were off. Not when she belonged to him in all the ways that mattered. But she hadn’t, not really. When he pulled her in for a kiss beneath the steaming spray, it was like kissing a statue of a girl. He’d taken everything from her but what he really wanted.
Nicholas peeled off his T-shirt, blinking away those memories of his younger self. They clung to his skin like a film ashe took in the small shower stall with its mounted showerhead that didn’t appear to be adjustable. That was unfortunate. He’d planned to use it on her.
Jay worried at the hem of her shirt before yanking it off in a quick gesture. Blood immediately rushed to his cock, but he pretended at nonchalance as he fiddled with the knob of the shower. There was some kind of paint on it, to make it look like granite, but it was flaking off. Left for hot, right for cold. He cranked it to the left, lathering up some of her shampoo and running it through his hair the same way he had when she was at college and he had stolen into her room, desperate for a piece of her.
It still smells the same.
Jay slipped in beside him, her shoulders up to her ears. She appeared to be sucking in, like she was trying to make herself smaller, but she wouldn’t look at him. He could hear her breathing quicken every time his hard cock grazed her back.
He turned the water warmer, noting the goosebumps on her arms. The smell of apple freesia was heady as it rose up on soft clouds of steam, causing the baby hairs around her temples to frizz. Bending, he whispered, “Hot enough for you?”
Jay turned to look at him with one arm barred over her chest. Water clung to her long eyelashes, sliding down her cheeks like tears when she blinked. “It’s fine.”
“You know how I feel about fine.”
She flushed. “I remember,” she said stiffly.
Nicholas pulled her arm away from her body. “Are you sure?”
Her eyes immediately dropped from his and she turned back around to stare at the wall. His mouth pulled down, dissatisfied, as he took in the smooth, stiff lines of her back.
